So… Christchurch, huh?

On my third day in Christchurch—having explored the city center over the past two days—I met up with the two sisters I had previously met in Timaru to visit the Botanical Gardens together. The gardens certainly had some beautiful areas (though the constant rain didn’t help), but overall, I found them rather sterile. The Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh are always in the back of my mind and, apparently, hard to beat.

The city center itself has a few cool buildings with interesting architecture, but beyond that, it’s still just a city. It’s not Auckland, which is a plus. But after seeing the stunning variety of nature New Zealand has to offer, Christchurch felt rather sobering.

That night, I finally found more company after Maddie decided to leave me. At the hostel, I spotted three girls playing Scrabble—I couldn’t let that opportunity go amiss! Thankfully, they let me join their game. After introductions, one of them joked, 'Wouldn’t it be funny if we lost Scrabble to a German girl?' That was the last time the topic was mentioned. Because, well… I won.

Take that, Andrew!

In all fairness, this time I didn’t have the letter 'V.' But had I needed it, I’m sure that casually slipping in the oversized fridge magnet with that letter—the one I now (proudly?) own—would have gone completely unnoticed. :DRead more